This application requests partial funding for a FASEB conference on "Transcriptional Regulation during Cell Growth, Differentiation, and Development", at Saxton River, Vermont from August 14 to 18, 2004. The regulation of gene expression at the level of transcription is critical for a wide variety of cellular processes, including cell growth, division, signaling, and death. Transcriptional regulation also plays an important role in the differentiation and the development of multicellular organisms, including the formation of specific cell types, tissues, and organs. The purpose of the conference is to bring together biochemists and molecular biologists studying fundamental mechanisms of transcription with cell and developmental biologists studying biological processes that are dependent on transcriptional regulation. The meeting blends model systems approaches (frog, fly, worm, mouse, and yeast) with rigorous biochemical approaches. Sessions will communicate recent advances in understanding transcriptional initiation and elongation, activation and repression, chromatin and chromosome structure, epigenetics, cell cycle control, and cell signaling and development. The conference will explore the role of transcriptional regulation in normal cell growth, differentiation, and development, as well as how alterations in transcription cause birth defects, cancer, and disease in humans. The conference goes beyond the mechanistic aspects of transcription to emphasize how cells use transcription during growth and differentiation, as well as development of multicellular organisms. The recent availability of whole genome sequences and the avalanche of microarray studies have added a new, global dimension to these questions. This meeting is unique within both the transcription field and the developmental biology field, and thus provides a unparalleled opportunity for interactions across disciplines. This conference will provide an up-to-date overview of one of the most fundamental and rapidly moving fields in biology, as well as the generation of new directions for future research.